“Kneading and pinching and prodding and pulling — all at her will! Now there is a beauty, our dear Hua!” Atop the roof of the Jinsheng Palace, Fengxi sighed with heartfelt admiration, watching that graceful figure depart.

“She wields what belongs to a woman with complete mastery — truly a woman of great intelligence.” Feng Xi was equally full of admiration, though his gaze had come to rest on the figure who had picked up the red peony.

That person lifted the red peony and gently brushed away the dust, raised it to the tip of her nose to breathe in its faint fragrance, closed her eyes, seeming intoxicated and delighted, and only after a long while carefully tucked it into her chest. Then she looked around in every direction, and once satisfied that no one had seen, she moved her steps toward the Jinsheng Palace.

“Seems this young man is hopelessly devoted to our beauty Hua — only our beauty Hua appears to have eyes only for you, this black fox of yours.” Fengxi had also seen what the figure did, and laughed with cool amusement.

Feng Xi looked more carefully at this person — approximately twenty-five or twenty-six years of age, quite tall in stature, wearing a military officer’s armor, with a markedly valiant bearing.

The person moved without obstacle from the Jinhua Hall through the Qinxin Garden all the way to the southern study, suggesting he was someone in whom the King of Huaguo placed great trust. Meanwhile atop the roof, Feng Xi glided like a stroke of dark ink, staying close on the person’s trail the entire way, with Fengxi following along behind him, murmuring to herself: “In broad daylight like this — how does no one notice us? Alas — when your lightness skill is too accomplished, there is no one to play with you.”

“Your servant Ye Yan pays his respects to the King!” Inside the southern study, the military officer prostrated himself on the ground.

The King of Huaguo, high above in his seat, regarded the minister at his feet with an unfathomable expression and said nothing. And so that military officer — Ye Yan — remained kneeling with his head lowered.

“Ye Yan — look at this.” After a long pause, the King threw something down to Ye Yan, his tone carrying a thread of barely suppressed anger beneath its surface calm.

Ye Yan picked up the object from the floor — it was a memorial. He opened it and his complexion changed drastically. A moment after finishing it, he raised the memorial high above his head. “Your servant knows his fault. Your servant begs the King to mete out punishment!”

“Hmph!” The King rose with a sweep of his sleeves and looked down at Ye Yan on the floor. “This King placed great hopes in you — and yet you have failed me time and again!”

“Your servant is incompetent. Your servant begs the King’s punishment.” Ye Yan was full of apprehension and fear.

“Punishment and the matter is settled?!” The King slammed his palm down on the writing table and raised his voice in fury. “Qucheng — the wealthiest city in Huaguo, home to the Qi and Shang families who together hold nearly half of Huaguo’s wealth — gone, just like that! All of that wealth — vanished into thin air! And into whose hands it fell — the prefect does not know! The ministers do not know! Not a single person in the entire kingdom knows!”

“Your servant…”

“And what do you have to say for yourself?! Well?!” The King’s beard and hair were all but standing on end, his eyes blazing with fury, and he circled around Ye Yan where he knelt. “I sent you to obtain one medicinal formula — and you could not bring back so much as half a character! You came back trailing nothing but trouble, and in the end you managed to lose me half of Huaguo! Splendid work indeed!”

“Your servant knows his fault! Your servant deserves death!” Ye Yan kowtowed again and again.

“What good is kowtowing!” The King delivered a kick that sent Ye Yan rolling across the floor. Still not satisfied, he added another kick, this one landing on Ye Yan’s face. “Get yourself to Qucheng this instant. This King gives you one month to investigate the matter in Qucheng and make it fully clear — otherwise, not only will this King have your head, but your entire nine generations of family will follow!”

“Yes!” Ye Yan kowtowed hastily in assent.

“Why are you still here!” The King looked at him with barely restrained fury — if only he could kill him to vent his rage. But at this moment he could not — at the very least, not until the Qucheng affair was resolved.

“Yes!” Ye Yan answered, yet seemed still to hesitate about something. “Only — only three days from now —”

“You!” The King’s palm slammed down on the writing table again, and he pointed at Ye Yan. “Do you still harbor delusions of marrying the Princess?! Have you any standing left to do so? This King has shown you exceptional leniency in not killing you here and now. If you do not remove yourself this instant, do not blame this King for being merciless!”

“Yes! Your servant takes his leave!” Ye Yan retreated in great haste.

“Stop!” The King’s voice rang out again in a sharp command.

“What further instruction does the King have?” Ye Yan turned back hurriedly.

“The Soul-Severing Sect is to be completely purged!” The King’s tone was icy and dark. “If this matter becomes widely known, how can this King rule over the realm!”

“Yes!”

“Hmph!” Once Ye Yan had gone, the King swept his robes and hurled a teacup to the floor.

“Pursuing romance even when death is breathing down his neck — this Ye Yan is quite something!” From the opening she had shifted aside between the roof tiles, Fengxi watched everything in the room below. “Is this the good entertainment you brought me here to see?”

“With this — everything now has an explanation.” Feng Xi’s gaze remained fixed on the King of Huaguo, his expression unfathomable, yet threaded through with a faint, quiet smile.

“Indeed. It is perfectly reasonable that the King of Huaguo would want the Han family’s formula.” Fengxi lay back on the tiles, her gaze lifting to the sky. The thin rays of the bright sun entered her eyes, yet could not penetrate the layer of shadow that lay across them. “To pursue his conquest of the world, he would need to raise armies. To raise armies, there would be casualties. And the ‘Purple Palace Powder’ is the finest medicine for external injuries — used among the troops, it would certainly reduce the soldiers’ losses.”

“Only he went about it in a rather clumsy way.” Feng Xi took one last look at the King of Huaguo in the room below and replaced the roof tile.

“For the sake of his ambitions — an entire family, wiped out.” Fengxi seemed unable to bear the glare of the bright sun and raised a hand to cover her eyes. “Several hundred lives — gone just like that.”

Feng Xi looked at her without speaking, his gaze complex — carrying something that seemed like relief, and something that seemed like quiet worry. In the end he let his eyes drift into the distance. The magnificent grandeur of the Palace of Huaguo lay beneath his feet — but what else lay beneath those feet? Only these red towers and green waters? Or the blood and bones of countless people?

In the Quyu Pavilion, Hua Chunran spread a sheet of fine silk paper, took up her brush and dipped it in ink, and began to paint with careful, deliberate strokes — each one laid down with the utmost caution, as though the slightest error would be unthinkable. Her expression was one of absolute absorption, yet between her brows and in the corners of her eyes, there floated a sweet, barely suppressed smile.

Fengxi drifted to stand behind her without a sound, her gaze moving from the table to Hua Chunran’s face. A faint smile crossed her own face — though within that smile was a thread of quiet wistfulness.

“My dear beauty Hua, what are you painting?”

The quiet question that suddenly appeared behind her gave the deeply focused Hua Chunran such a fright that her hand trembled and the brush fell from her grip, plummeting straight toward the painting. As the brush was about to ruin the freshly completed work, Hua Chunran let out an involuntary cry: “Oh!”

In that critical instant, a hand shot out and caught the falling brush before it could land on the painting.

Looking at the painting still intact, Hua Chunran let out a breath of relief, then turned around and scolded: “Are you trying to frighten me to death? Always moving without a sound, and then delighting in startling people without warning!”

But Fengxi’s attention had been captured by the painting on the table. She reached out and picked it up to examine it closely — and immediately cried out: “How can this black fox possibly look this good?! The person you have painted here is practically a divine immortal from the heavens above! When has he ever looked this righteous?”

“Does my likeness not resemble him?” Hua Chunran asked, puzzled at Fengxi’s reaction. She had studied under the finest painter in the kingdom since childhood, and her skill was if not the very best then certainly accomplished work — how had it turned out so unacceptable in Fengxi’s eyes?

“Not in the slightest!” Fengxi turned the brush in one hand and waved the portrait in the other, her face full of genuine indignation, as though she found Hua Chunran’s painted portrait deeply objectionable.

“But…” Hua Chunran looked carefully at her own masterpiece and could find nothing wrong with it.

“Let me tell you — this is how the black fox should be painted!” Fengxi walked to the table, spread a fresh sheet of paper, dipped the brush in ink, and brought it sweeping down. “The face — a little long, like a duck’s egg. The brows — like so, long and sweeping, but they need to tilt up slightly right here. Then the eyes — ah, he was born with a pair of phoenix eyes. The outer corners must lift upward — which means when the black fox tilts his eyes to look at someone, especially when he looks at a woman, it is basically the same as asking: ‘My beauty, would you like to come with me?’ Born with a pair of roguish fox eyes, made expressly for luring young women! Then the nose — ah, the only thing this fellow was actually blessed with at birth is this nose. It is the nose that makes him look somewhat upright and decent — when in truth this fellow’s guts are twisted around more bends than a winding river! Now the lips — mm, thin lips. Thin-lipped people are heartless, and this fellow is the finest embodiment of the saying. Oh yes — and the crescent of ink-dark moon at his brow. There — that is about right. This fellow may have been given a passable face, but do not for one moment think he is a good person!”

All the while she spoke, she was painting. In a matter of moments, Feng Xi’s likeness had leapt onto the page. Done, she set down the brush, dusted her hands, and held the portrait out to Hua Chunran.

Hua Chunran looked at it carefully. This Feng Xi and the Feng Xi she had painted seemed at first glance to be the same person — yet on closer inspection, they were not quite. The expression, at first glance, was composed and elegantly refined, his bearing otherworldly and distinguished. But at the second look, one discovered that tucked within those slightly tilted phoenix eyes was a trace of bewitching, beguiling darkness — drawing one in without realizing it, and making the fall entirely willing. And at the third look, the faint smile at the corner of those lips was unmistakably tinged with cunning — the pride and satisfaction of one who has calculated the whole world yet left the world still unaware. This Feng Xi was truly different from the handsome and nobly refined Feng Xi she herself had painted — but one thing was certain: this Feng Xi was far more vivid, and far more compelling.

“Miss Fengxi’s portrait truly captures the spirit more fully than mine!” Hua Chunran offered heartfelt admiration, then shifted her gaze from the painting to Fengxi, a subtle note of probing beneath her eyes. “To be able to paint Young Master Feng so perceptively — it is clear that Miss Fengxi knows him very deeply indeed.”

“Ha — ten years of knowing him, and the only benefit I have gained is seeing him clearly. And the benefit of that is that no one in the world will ever be able to deceive me.” Fengxi swayed her head cheerfully and laughed with evident self-satisfaction.

“It is said in jianghu circles that ‘Baifeng Heixi’ are a match made by heaven. Miss Fengxi and Young Master Feng having known each other for ten full years — you must certainly share a deep bond, and understand him very well.” Hua Chunran said with a quiet, downward smile, her fingers holding the portrait lightly — though her thumb and forefinger pressed together just slightly tighter than before.

“Heavens above — I am getting goosebumps! Look — look —!” Fengxi’s response was to roll back her sleeve and hold her arm out for Hua Chunran to see the goosebumps rising on it, her expression the picture of someone who has just encountered a ghost in broad daylight.

“My dear beauty Hua!” Fengxi suddenly seized Hua Chunran’s hand and declared with utmost gravity: “If you would like to pair me with someone, you may consider — mm — for instance, that Young Master Yu of unparalleled virtue, or the mysterious and hidden Young Master Lanxi deep within his palace, or even that insufferably arrogant Crown Prince Huang Chao — any of them would do! Just do not link me together with that black fox! I beg of you!”

“There is no need for Miss Fengxi to be so agitated. Chunran only heard a few rumors.” Hua Chunran pressed her lips together in a quiet smile, and for a brief moment her eyes were radiant and dazzling.

“Alas — the people of the jianghu truly have no imagination!” Fengxi scrubbed vigorously at her arm, her face full of protest. “If they want to spread rumors about me, Bai Fengxi, can they not think of anyone else? It is always me being tangled up with this black fox — what terrible luck!”

“Ha ha —” Hua Chunran laughed brightly at the sight of her. “Young Master Feng is remarkable in appearance and brimming with talent — countless people would wish to have him as a husband. Why does Fengxi find him so objectionable? And why do you always call him a fox?”

“Ha —” Fengxi tilted her head with a smile and looked at Hua Chunran. “Is it not a certain princess who wishes to have him as a husband?” She propped her chin on one hand, her gaze traveling up and down Hua Chunran appraisingly. “Actually, come to think of it, the Princess and that black fox would make a natural pair.”

“I am speaking of you — why bring it around to me?” Hua Chunran raised her sleeve to hide her face and turned away, seeming a little flustered and displeased — though the smile lurking at the corner of her eye was impossible to conceal no matter how hard she tried.

“Ha ha — my dear beauty Hua is blushing!”

Fengxi spun around and appeared before her in an instant. She reached out a hand, and Hua Chunran felt the portrait in her grip drawn away by some force — in the blink of an eye it was in Fengxi’s hands. Fengxi crumpled it between both hands, then with a sweep of her arm, scattered it into the air — and in an instant a snowfall of white paper scraps descended from above, covering Hua Chunran from head to foot, as though a red peony were being blanketed in snow, its beauty all the more striking for the delicate, yielding fragility of the snow it could not quite bear. The sight drew from Fengxi a genuine sigh of admiration — this Hua Chunran was three parts more beautiful and captivating than Feng Qiwu, though Feng Qiwu had the advantage of a proud, cool aloofness that was entirely her own.

“My dear beauty Hua — are you drawn to that black fox? Would you like me to help you?” Fengxi bent forward, lowered her head, tilted her face, and looked up from below at Hua Chunran’s slightly bowed head. “You should know — that black fox has entrusted me with something!”

“Look at what you have done to me again.” Hua Chunran swept the paper scraps from her sleeves, already somewhat accustomed to Fengxi’s peculiar antics. She let her gaze drift across Fengxi with an expression of seeming indifference and asked offhandedly: “Entrusted you with what?”

“I will help you with it!” Fengxi stepped forward and began brushing the paper scraps from her hair, taking care not to disturb the arrangement — as though she had entirely forgotten what she had just said, and equally had not heard Hua Chunran’s question.

Beneath her sleeve, Hua Chunran’s hand closed into a fist. Her lips pressed together slightly, and she let out a quiet, soundless sigh, giving Fengxi a glance that held a trace of quiet displeasure.

“I was only playing — I will not do it again.” Fengxi’s hand took the opportunity to give the beauty’s tender, soft cheek a couple of casual pats, assuming that Hua Chunran’s slight displeasure was over having paper scraps scattered all over her. “Next time I will gather peonies instead — and when a shower of petals rains down from above, you will surely be a celestial being standing amid flowers!”

Hua Chunran wanted to maintain her composure and not ask — but the thought in her heart simply could not be suppressed. In the end she had no choice but to ask quietly once more: “Young Master Feng’s martial arts are formidable — what matter could there possibly be that he would need another’s help with?”

“Oh — that black fox may be formidable in martial arts, but some things cannot be resolved by martial arts alone.” Fengxi seemed to have just recalled it, and said in an unbothered tone. “A matter of the heart, for instance — doesn’t that sort of thing require the Old Man of the Moon to tie the thread?”

“Oh?” Hua Chunran lowered her eyes, seeming somewhat surprised. “Young Master Feng has someone he is drawn to? I wonder which young lady that might be?”

“A beauty of the very first rank.” Fengxi said with a smile, watching Hua Chunran.

Hua Chunran seemed a little shy, keeping her head lowered, her gaze tangled at the tips of her toes, waiting for Fengxi to continue. But she waited a long while, and Fengxi simply sat watching her with an expression brimming with amusement and teasing, and said nothing more.

At last Hua Chunran raised her head. The shyness on her face had been swept entirely aside, replaced by a shrewd and composed little smile. “Miss Fengxi — are you willing to help me?”

“My dear beauty Hua — help you with what exactly?” Fengxi continued to smile pleasantly. Little beauty — you should have dropped the act long ago. All of those tactics are entirely wasted on me, Bai Fengxi, because they simply do not work.

“I am drawn to Young Master Feng. I wish to take him as my prince consort.” Hua Chunran said it plainly and clearly, without the slightest trace of shyness or hesitation on her face.

“Ha ha —!” Fengxi burst out laughing — and then began applauding vigorously, as though in genuine and generous admiration. “My dear beauty Hua — you truly have not disappointed me. You truly are not like an ordinary woman of the deep palace!”

“Will the young lady help me?” Hua Chunran settled gracefully into a chair.

“Can you first answer one question for me?” Fengxi leapt up onto the table and sat herself on top of it.

“Please ask.” Hua Chunran smoothed out her skirts without hurrying.

“Among those who have come to seek your hand this time are the outstanding young men of all the kingdoms of Dong Chao — including rare and exceptional suitors such as Crown Prince Huang Chao of Huang Chao and Shizi Lan Xi of Fengguo. Why would you choose to take a jianghu wanderer of ordinary station as your husband?” Fengxi tilted her head sideways and looked at Hua Chunran from the corner of her eye.

“Because I hope that in the years to come, more of my smiles will be — genuinely from the heart, and full of joy.” Hua Chunran propped her cheek on her hand and smiled with serene ease.

“Hmm?” Fengxi had not expected such a simple answer.

“The pursuit of my entire life is to possess the highest station a woman can hold, and limitless glory and splendor!” Hua Chunran said with complete candor, without a trace of discomfort. She lifted her head slightly, and her gaze drifted to the crystal palace lanterns hanging high in the room. Outside, the sunlight streamed in, and the lanterns gave off a brilliance that dazzled. “By my own abilities alone — regardless of who I marry, regardless of whether I am in Huaguo, Huang Chao, or Fengguo — I will live in wealth and splendor for all of my days!”

“Do you believe me?” Hua Chunran’s gaze moved from the lanterns to Fengxi. Her face, lit by confidence, carried a peerless and noble luminance.

“I believe you.” Fengxi gave a nod, her smile unchanged, her eyes holding only admiration as she looked at Hua Chunran.

“Only — the very highest heights can be a lonely place.” Hua Chunran’s gaze fell back to the lanterns, her voice suddenly low, carrying a thread of quiet, inward longing.

“Yes.” Fengxi smiled and nodded.

“These past few days — spending time with Young Master Feng — I have been very, very happy.” Hua Chunran’s voice suddenly grew soft and dreamy, carrying the quality of something half-imagined, and between her brows bloomed a soaring, suppressed joy. “I can say with certainty that I will never find another person like him again. And so I wish for him to stay — for my sake.”

Fengxi leapt down and landed before Hua Chunran, reached out her right hand, lifted Hua Chunran’s face, and examined it carefully. Her faint smile had never left her face, and Hua Chunran simply let her look.

“A face of incomparable beauty, a mind of keen intelligence, and layers of deep and careful calculation — in some ways, rather alike.” Fengxi murmured quietly, looking for a long while at the face in her hand. “And moreover — false, cunning, and hungry for wealth and splendor. Only… she possesses a heart finely crafted with seven apertures.”

“This is the first time anyone has said this to my face without holding anything back.” Hua Chunran smiled, and reached up to clasp Fengxi’s hand, squeezing it gently. “But I truly am this kind of woman.”

Fengxi’s smile deepened when she heard this. Then an eyebrow arched. “But why tell me the truth? You could have given any number of other reasons — and I would never have pressed further.”

“Because…” Hua Chunran raised both hands and gently cupped Fengxi’s face, looking carefully into those eyes — always clear, always without a shadow of darkness within them. “In all my life, I have never once had a true friend. It is only you — Fengxi — whom I hope will be my one genuine friend. No deception, no calculation — only sincerity.”

“Because I belong to the jianghu, and will never pose any threat to you?” Fengxi also looked into her eyes, seeing all the way through them and into her heart.

“Yes.” Hua Chunran admitted it openly.

“Good — I will help you.” Fengxi broke into a brilliant smile the moment she heard it and agreed without a moment’s hesitation.

But Hua Chunran was momentarily stunned. For an instant she could not draw herself back from that smile of Fengxi’s — that smile was brilliant beyond measure, its radiance all but striking. How had she never noticed before? Fengxi was actually this beautiful. Beautiful beyond comparison. She possessed something that even this so-called first beauty could not lay claim to.

“Elder Sister! Elder Sister!” A call suddenly drifted in from outside.

Fengxi’s figure sprang up, and she leapt out of the pavilion. There on the roof of the Anxi Pavilion, Han Pu and Yan Jiutai were sitting together.

“Pu’er — when did you get here?” Fengxi called out in delighted surprise.

“Hmph! And whose fault is it? You abandoned me and came here to enjoy yourself, and you have been gone so many days without coming back — so I made Brother Yan bring me to find you!” Han Pu said with a pout, then sprang down from the pavilion roof.

“Brother Yan, you must have had a great deal of trouble from this little rascal — I am sorry to have put you through it.” Fengxi caught Han Pu in her arms and called a greeting up to Yan Jiutai, who was still on top of the pavilion.

Yan Jiutai only shook his head, and did not leap down from the roof — seeming to have no intention of staying long.

“Miss Fengxi, these are…” Hua Chunran also walked out and looked at these two unexpected visitors.

“My dear beauty Hua — this is my little brother, Han Pu!” Fengxi turned back with a cheerful smile to introduce Hua Chunran, then gave Han Pu a pat on the head. “Pu’er — greet the Princess, your elder sister! Lovely, is she not?”

“What a handsome child!” Hua Chunran looked at Han Pu — who was wrinkling his brow and making a face from the pat, though his good looks still shone through — and offered the compliment sincerely.

“He is just a bit too young. Otherwise, by looks alone, you two would make a perfect pair!” Fengxi said with a grin.

“Ha —” Hua Chunran dismissed Fengxi’s nonsense with an amused smile, then remarked, “Even a child this small can move freely in and out of the palace — it seems the palace guards really do need to be properly managed!”

“I do not want to be paired with her!” Han Pu, evidently feeling deeply insulted by the suggestion, protested in indignation. This woman was all mincing and coy — just looking at her was uncomfortable. She was not half as refreshing as Elder Sister!

“Oh, go on with you! You little rascal — even three lifetimes of improvement would not earn you this kind of fortune!” Fengxi’s response to Han Pu’s impertinence was a firm knock on his head.

“I have told you and told you — do not knock me on the head. I am grown up!” Han Pu clutched his forehead and howled.

“A grown-up would not say such an impertinent thing!” Fengxi knocked him once more, then turned to face Hua Chunran. “My dear beauty Hua — I have been playing in your palace for quite a few days now. Since my little brother has come looking for me, I should head back. I will come find you in two days.”

“Father wishes to receive you and Young Master Feng in audience tomorrow. There is no need to rush away before then.” Hua Chunran urged her to stay.

“Ha — to be honest with you, your Father the King only needs to receive that black fox. As for me — I am not exactly a candidate for prince consort, so whether I am received in audience or not makes little difference.” Fengxi laughed and then in a single motion darted to Hua Chunran’s side. Her hand shot out and snatched the silk handkerchief embroidered with the Qiongqiong and Juxu from where it was tucked at Hua Chunran’s waist. “But you can rest easy. Anyone who lays eyes on that black fox — men find themselves won over and willing to kneel before him, women find their hearts moved and willing to follow him to the ends of the earth. His talent and appearance truly are without peer in the world. Even you, the most beautiful woman in all of Dong Chao, have had your heart moved — have you not?! Ha ha —!”

Still laughing, Fengxi hooked Han Pu’s arm, leapt up to the rooftop in a single bound, and from there turned to call back down: “My dear beauty Hua — one final confirmation. Do you truly want my help?” Her hand released, and the silk handkerchief drifted on the wind and fell, landing neatly in Hua Chunran’s hands.

“Yes.” Hua Chunran looked at the embroidered pattern on the handkerchief and answered clearly.

“Good — I will help you!” Fengxi’s figure drifted away, and in the blink of an eye she had vanished. Yan Jiutai followed close behind and was gone as well.

The twenty-fourth day of the third month.

Throughout Huaguo, a great many people were feeling a nervous tension in these days — for tomorrow was the day of Princess Chunran’s selection of a prince consort, and many were eagerly making their preparations. Those who trained in martial arts drilled a few extra sets of their forms, hoping that the Princess would be captivated by their valor. Those who studied letters read a few extra passages and composed a few more poems and verses, hoping the Princess would be won over by their talent. After all — to win the favor of the most beautiful woman in the world was, for any man, the greatest fortune one could hope for in a lifetime.

“My dear beauty Hua — they have been arranging things on top of my head for a full hour and it is still not done! I have been sitting here doing nothing for so long I am genuinely falling asleep!”

Early in the morning, a voice that was thoroughly bored and not a little drowsy began to drift through Luo Hua Palace.

“Just a little longer — it will be done soon.”

A clear, sweet, and gentle voice always began its soothing whenever that bored voice made itself heard.

“Heavens — what is that thing you are holding? Please do not — do not put it anywhere near my face — I said do not put it on me — if you put it on me I will kick you — I am entirely serious!” The bored voice launched its protests and threats.

“Very well — do not apply that to her.”

“Heavens — what is that in your hand? Is that a golden phoenix? So large and so beautiful — what are you — do not put it in my hair — this thing may look lovely but it weighs a great deal — I told you do not put it in — it is heavy — if you put that in one more time I will snap it in two!”

“Very well — the ‘Fire Cloud Golden Phoenix’ is too heavy. Let her skip it. The ‘Drifting Clouds Mountain Snow’ hairpin is more distinctive anyway.”

“I am warning all of you — do not put anything else on my face — drawing and dabbing — I have no intention of washing my face all over again later — what is that in your hand — I said no drawing — my dear beauty Hua — tell her to stop — if she does not stop I will bite her!”

“Very well — no need to paint her brows. Let me look… mm… not bad at all. Naturally a single long flowing brow — neither thick nor thin, perfectly proportioned!”

“Your Highness, which robe should she wear?”

“Bring them here — mm… this pale yellow one.”

“Are you done yet? My dear beauty Hua — what exactly are you trying to do? Waking me up at the crack of dawn!”

“I am preparing for tomorrow. I want to see which style of dress suits you best.”

“It is your match-selection, not mine — why must I be dressed up?”

“You promised to help me.”

“Is it not simple enough? I will just knock everyone except the black fox flat on the ground — that way no one will have the face to come seeking your hand!”

“Ha ha — only you could think of something like that. All right — open your eyes, stand up, and let me see the effect.”

“Can I sleep first? I really, truly want to sleep!”

“Absolutely not! You lot — pull her up!”

Hua Chunran directed her palace maids to haul Fengxi — who had spread herself across the soft couch like a puddle of water — upright. But although Fengxi was pulled up, her head drooped sideways, her waist slumped askew, her eyes remained tightly shut, and her entire body leaned against the maids supporting her as though she had no bones.

“Ling’er — bring that plate of Pearl Cakes.” Hua Chunran instructed mildly.

The effect was immediate. Fengxi stood up straight in an instant. Both eyes flew open, bright as stars, without a single trace of drowsiness or exhaustion. But in that precise instant — the instant Fengxi opened her eyes and stood upright — every palace maid in the room was briefly struck still, as though they were porcelain dolls into whom life had been suddenly breathed the moment their eyes opened. All at once, everything was vivid and alive, and a glow of brilliance seemed to radiate from her entire person.

Before the palace maids had time to recover their senses, Fengxi’s eyes flicked sideways — and in a flash of pale yellow, her figure was already gone from the room. From outside the hall, her cheerful voice rang out: “Ling’er, you walk too slowly! I will come meet you! Here, let me take those Pearl Cakes off your hands!”

A collective sigh went through the room.

“Oh, this Fengxi of ours…” Hua Chunran shook her head in a sigh — and in the same instant, a thought surfaced unbidden in her mind and put her on alert.

“One can hear you clamoring from a great distance away. When will you ever learn a little refinement?” Feng Xi’s elegant voice drifted in from outside.

Hua Chunran hurried out at the sound. She found Fengxi perched on the railing with her head bent over the Pearl Cakes, eating with great enthusiasm. Ling’er stood beside her in a daze watching her. And in the distance, a tall, elegant, dark figure was unhurriedly approaching.

“Young Master Feng — come and see Miss Fengxi. I imagine you never expected Miss Fengxi to be quite this beautiful?”

Hua Chunran walked up to Fengxi, took the Pearl Cakes from her hand and returned them to Ling’er, then raised a handkerchief and dabbed the cake crumbs from the corner of Fengxi’s mouth, and drew her down from the railing to stand on the ground.

“That black fox always comes to spoil my good moments.” Fengxi murmured a complaint, her gaze lingering longingly on the Pearl Cakes in Ling’er’s hands.

Hua Chunran turned her around to face Feng Xi, who was walking toward them. As she watched him approaching step by step, Fengxi’s eyes shifted, and she suddenly broke into a bright smile and dipped into a graceful bow. “Your servant pays her respects to Young Master Feng.”

In that smile and that bow, her etiquette was flawless and her bearing exquisite.

Feng Xi stopped at about one zhang’s distance. He looked at Fengxi as she stood there — long, clear brows and bright eyes, a face of white jade and rosy lips, her dark-as-silk hair pinned up into a misty cloud-like knot with a few pearl hairpins for adornment, the usual wide-cut white robe replaced by a palace gown of pale yellow, soft silken sashes bound her slender waist, making her figure appear tall and graceful. She was all dimpled smiles and glancing eyes — like a beauty found in a quiet valley, refined and peerlessly clear.

“What does Young Master Feng think?” Hua Chunran fixed her gaze intently on Feng Xi’s face, hoping to read some information from it — but Feng Xi had maintained his faint, unchanging smile throughout, his eyes undisturbed, as though the Fengxi before him was the most ordinary thing in the world.

“There is an expression: ‘dressed in dragon robes, still does not look like a crown prince.’ Is that not precisely who we see before us?” Feng Xi lowered his eyes and examined the short white jade flute in his hand as he spoke.

“Ha ha — my dear beauty Hua, all your effort for nothing!” Fengxi burst into laughter, and in an instant that elegant bearing was shattered beyond recovery. She raised a hand and pulled the pearl pins from her hair, and at once her long hair cascaded down, nearly an hour’s worth of careful styling undone in a single moment. She sprang up and settled back onto the white jade railing, feet kicking against each other idly as she rocked her shoulders and shook her head. “I promised to help you, and I will help you — there is no need to dress me up in this ‘dragon robe.'”

“Young Master Feng does love his jokes.” Hua Chunran said, her brows and eyes blooming like flowers — as did the thoughts she kept tucked behind them.

“Is there something Your Highness needs help with?” Feng Xi turned to address Hua Chunran.

“No… it is only a small matter.” Hua Chunran lowered her head slightly, raising her sleeve to half-veil her face, leaving only a pair of beautiful eyes to drift a glance at Feng Xi — a glance as richly intoxicating as fine wine.

“Oh.” Feng Xi gave a quiet nod, seeming entirely unbothered. He raised the white jade flute in his hand. “While in Your Highness’s Linlang Pavilion these past days, Xi came upon an ancient melody long thought lost — ‘Pearls and Jade Buy the Song.’ Would Your Highness care to listen?”

“Chunran would be most fortunate.” Hua Chunran smiled graciously.

“Your Highness, please.”

Feng Xi made a small gesture with his hand. Hua Chunran smiled and inclined her head, and the two of them made their way toward the Quyu Pavilion.

“‘Pearls and jade buy the song and laughter, coarse grain nurtures the worthy talent. Only then does one know why the great swan takes flight — to wander alone for a thousand li.'” Fengxi watched the two retreating figures, swaying her head back and forth as she recited the lines softly, turning the pearl pin lightly between her fingers, with a smile on her face that was not quite a smile. “Pearls and jade buy the song and laughter… to wander alone for a thousand li…”

The twenty-fifth day of the third month. The day of Princess Chunran’s match selection — the most beautiful woman in all of Dong Chao.

It was said that those who had come from the various kingdoms of Dong Chao to seek the Princess’s hand numbered no fewer than ten thousand, but after the screening conducted by Huaguo’s Grand Minister of Music, only one hundred remained. These one hundred could be called the finest of the finest — among them extraordinary jianghu fighters of formidable martial arts, merchants of incomparable wealth, high officials from foreign courts, and nobly born lords and princes’ sons. Each of them displayed their own splendor in both literary talent and martial skill! And today, the Princess would receive all one hundred in the Jinhua Palace, where she would test each on their literary and martial abilities, and bestow her golden brush upon the finest among them, marking him as her prince consort.

The usually quiet and still Jinhua Palace was rather lively today, with attendants moving back and forth in every direction.

To the east of the Jinhua Palace lay a lake named Lanlan — the Lotus Embracing Lake. Around its shores, water pavilions had been built encircling the water, and in the very center of the lake there rose a water terrace approximately three zhang in height called the Cailian Terrace — the Lotus Plucking Terrace. One might naturally assume from its name that the lake was planted full of lotuses, but this was not the case. Not a single lotus was grown in the Embracing Lotus Lake. The name came from the terrace’s six columns, which rose from the surface of the lake and arched inward in a half-moon curve, like six flower petals, while the center was paved in white jade stone and then ornamented with glazed glass on top, resembling a flower’s golden pistil. Seen from a distance, it looked as though a lotus had bloomed upon the water. And so when the King of Huaguo wished to bestow this palace upon his beloved daughter Princess Chunran, and asked her to name the lake and the terrace, the Princess had named the terrace the Cailian Terrace, and the lake the Lanlan Lake.

The Cailian Terrace rose from the center of the lake at a distance of roughly five zhang from the shore, with no bridge connecting it — because Princess Chunran had said that the terrace’s natural beauty would be ruined by the addition of a bridge. So the King had ordered the craftsmen to leave it as it was, and it was reached by small boat on ordinary days.

Today, the surface of the Lanlan Lake was scattered with peony blossoms — all gathered early that morning by the palace maids of the Jinhua Palace from the imperial garden and strewn across the water, adorning it as though a hundred flowers were paying homage to the lotus.

Around the lake, a hundred long tables had been set up in the water pavilions. At each table sat one guest. Each long table was divided into two halves — one half laid with fine food and excellent wine, the other set with the four implements of the scholar’s study. From the Cailian Terrace at the center of the lake, long silken curtains hung all around, as though a wall of silk had been erected encircling the terrace, concealing the beauty within. When the breeze passed by, the curtains billowed and drifted, occasionally revealing a corner of the pavilion — which only made all the suitors in the surrounding water pavilions stretch their necks for a better look, yet still unable to glimpse the beauty within, making their hearts itch all the more with eager longing.

“All heroes and worthy gentlemen — Chunran offers her respects!”

A clear, cool woman’s voice floated from within the pavilion, and behind the misty silken curtains, a graceful figure dipped in a bow.

Hearing such a melodious voice, every heart in the room was stirred at once, and all thought: if her voice is already this beautiful, the Princess must be even more so. With the thought of that incomparable face before them, every heart gave a great leap of excitement, and all prostrated themselves. “We pay our respects to the Princess!”

“Today Chunran is fortunate to see distinguished figures from every kingdom assembled before her. In honor of this occasion, Chunran will play a piece of music as an expression of her respect for all who are gathered. She humbly invites your kind guidance.” The beauty’s voice rang out like birdsong, warm and courteous.

“Wonderful!” Everyone cried out in praise together, and among them one voice rang out louder than the rest: “Even if one cannot become the prince consort — to have heard the Princess’s music is already enough to make one’s life feel complete!”

“Then please enjoy the fine wine while listening to the music.” The beauty’s voice was clear and bright, with a hint of laughter beneath it.

“Only I wonder — what piece will the Princess play for us?”

Across from the Cailian Terrace, there was one water pavilion which, perhaps by virtue of the terrain, stood about one zhang higher than all the others — like a peak among the surrounding pavilions, distinctly standing apart. At this moment, a purple-robed young man leaned against the railing and called out the question in a carrying voice. All one hundred of these men possessed a remarkable bearing, but this young man surpassed even them — simply standing there against the railing with an unhurried air, he gave off the sense of a sovereign seated high above all others. The question he spoke was casual, yet carried within it a faint undercurrent of authority, as though no one could refuse to answer. His keen gaze shot toward the pavilion, sharp enough to seem as though it could pierce through the silken curtains and see everything within with perfect clarity.

“This terrace is called the Cailian Terrace — so Chunran will play a piece called ‘Hymn to the Water Lotus.’ I wonder if that meets with the Crown Prince’s approval?”

Within the pavilion — Fengxi — looking through a gap in the silken curtains at Crown Prince Huang Chao in his purple robes in the opposite pavilion. Even across a distance of five zhang, she could clearly make out that expression on his face — that arrogant, sweeping confidence that placed the whole world beneath its regard. A faint smile crossed her lips involuntarily. She raised a hand and passed it over her long hair, then let a fingertip touch the crescent of snow-white moonlight at her brow. In her heart a thought arose, unbidden: she found herself genuinely wanting to see Huang Chao’s expression when he saw her.

“Very well.” Huang Chao inclined his head, with the air of a sovereign granting leave. He turned and settled back into his chair, raised a hand to take hold of the wine vessel — then set it back down. He turned his head toward the blue curtain behind him. “Wuyuan — are you truly not coming out to witness the renowned beauty of the world with your own eyes?”

“There is no need.” From behind the curtain, a voice rang out — clear and bright and beautiful as music itself, unhurried in its tone. “As it is said, appearance reflects what is within. I will come to know the peerless charm of Huaguo’s first beauty through the heart of her qin music.”

Hearing that voice, hearing those words, Fengxi felt a stirring in her heart. Knowing a person through the heart of their music? Yu Wuyuan? He had come as well?

In an instant, she felt a very strong desire to play — to play the qin properly, to pour everything she had into a single piece, and to hear what this voice would say in response.

Her fingertips plucked the strings, and the sound of the qin rose and cut across the air. The notes of the “Hymn to the Water Lotus” flowed clear and limpid as running water from beneath her fingers.

One seemed to find oneself placed amid clear blue-green waves — lotus blossoms opening their petals one by one around you, tender stamens offering their faint, quiet fragrance, broad lotus leaves swaying gently toward you on the breeze, brilliant butterflies circling the blooms in a dancing flight, the cool wind passing by, robes billowing upward, one’s heart open and one’s spirit at ease — until suddenly a small boat appeared in the distance, carrying a beauty whose bearing was like a green lotus stem, like drifting snow, like a soaring dragon, like a startled heron touching water, with smiling eyes and a laughing voice, endearing and lovely, stirring the heart and moving the spirit. One reached out and took her pale hand, and together you grew intoxicated amid the lotuses…

In an instant, every person present was drunk on the music. All motion ceased. Every gaze fixed upon the Cailian Terrace. And behind Huang Chao, the blue curtain stirred — and at last, that faint shadow stepped out from behind it, and stood at the railing.

Fengxi’s gaze swept across — saw clearly — her heart gave a jump. Her fingertip trembled. A single wrong note fell. She did not look, yet already knew: across the water, a long brow had lifted slightly.

Breathe in. Close the eyes. Still the heart. In an instant the fingers became exceptionally fluid; in an instant the mind became clear and mirror-like; in an instant the music shifted from elegant and graceful to free and lofty, unrestrained and soaring — without rule, without score, without a single traceable pattern. A strand of pure sound became the rapidly flying, unbound cold wind; became the freely drifting wisps of cloud; became the cool and sweet fine rain; became the clean and spotless first snow of the season… following the heart’s desire, soaring through all of heaven and earth…

When the piece came to its end, the entirety of the Lanlan Lake fell into quiet stillness. Not a single person dared make a sound — as though all were still submerged in the music, or as though none dared break the exquisite atmosphere the music had created.

“Wonderful! Wonderful! Wonderful! This piece is fresh and transcendent, unconstrained by convention, with an extraordinary artistic conception!” Huang Chao was the first to applaud, full of praise. “Wuyuan — what do you say?”

Yu Wuyuan gazed for a long while at the Cailian Terrace, then gently said: “Her bearing and grace surpass all the world. The heart within her music is without equal.”

Upon hearing this, Fengxi’s heart gave a sudden, deep tremor. She raised her eyes to look — before the curtain stood a white-robed figure, in plain, unadorned clothing, his person as pure and flawless as jade.